Future of High-Speed Train Questioned

Elisabeth Feringa, right, and her daughter place candles near the Transrapid accident side at the test course in Lathen, northwestern Germany, Sunday Sept. 24, 2006. A high-speed magnetic train hit a maintenance vehicle on the tracks and 23 people were killed by the accident. (AP Photo/Joerg Sarbach) (Joerg Sarbach - AP)

Other victims have not been publicly identified. Officials said they included workers for Transrapid International, the company that makes the train. The track, operated by Munich-based IABG, is mainly used to show off maglev technology, but tourists are allowed to ride the train.

Prosecutors have determined that the driver of the train did pull the emergency brake, but not before it was so close to the maintenance vehicle _ between 55 and 110 yards _ that it was not able to prevent the accident.

Investigators planned to sift through hours of recorded radio traffic between the controllers and drivers of the two vehicles to try and determine which commands had been given and, possibly, why the magnetic train's driver did not see the vehicle earlier.

Although German railway trains that travel at speeds of 160 mph are equipped with safety devices that can automatically stop the train if an obstruction is detected on the track up to seven miles away, the magnetic train had no such capabilities.

The crash came as Tiefensee was visiting China to urge officials there to extend their use of the German-made technology along a route in Shanghai, one of only two commercially operating maglev trains in the world. The other is near Nagoya, Japan.

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On the Net:

http://www.transrapid.de